Presentation by Jan Low Principal Scientist, International Potato Center (CIP) Nairobi, Kenya. 14-18 June 2021. AERAP Science organised the Africa-Europe Science and Innovation Summit, which aimed to enhance science and innovation cooperation between Africa and Europe.

1. JUNE • 2019
Building
Gender-
Responsive &
Nutritious
Sweetpotato
Value Chains
Biofortified
Sweetpotato
as a Key
Contributor to
Sustainable
Agri-Food
Systems in
Africa
Jan W. Low
Principal Scientist
International Potato
Center
Africa-Europe
Partnering Together
18 June 2021

2. CIP is committed to preserving diversity of its mandate
crops & reducing poverty and malnutrition
in Potato, sweetpotato
1) Genetic Innovation
2) Resilient Agrifood Systems
3) System Transformation
NUMBER OF ASCESSIONS HELD JUNE 2021
Cultivated
species
Wild
relatives
#
Countries
Potato 4,839 2,596 44
Sweetpotato 5,385 1,092 64
Andean Roots & Tubers 2,031 495 13
High potential– N fixing
root crop: Ahipa
(yambean/jicama)
(Phacyrhizus spp.)

3. Why do we say that sweetpotato is climate-resilient?
Sweetpotato came to Africa from
the Americas..
 Can grow from sea level to 2400
m
 89% of its production
concentrated in 5 farming
systems where 66% of SSA
population lives
 Highest energy output per unit
time per unit area
 More water use efficient than
grain crops
 Expanding in semi-arid areas
with irrigation
 Dual-purpose use as food & feed
 Drought & saline tolerant
varieties available
 Can be intercropped and
stripped cropped effectively

4. Sweetpotato is a nutritional powerhouse….
Just one small root (125 gms) of
orange-fleshed sweetpotato
(OFSP) provides the daily vitamin
A needs of a young child. 48% of
children under 5 years of age in
sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are
vitamin A deficient. Vitamin A is
essential for a strong immune
system & good eyesight.

5. And don’t overlook the amazing leaves…
No part of the sweetpotato plant goes
to waste– component of the circular
food system approach
No part of the sweetpotato plant goes
to waste– component of the circular
food system approach

6. 1
Questioning Conventional Wisdom
(1995-2000)
Will African consumers and
producers be willing to adopt and
consume orange-fleshed
sweetpotato?
Going-to-scale while tackling
bottlenecks along the value chain
(2010 to date). Breeding in Africa
for Africa, backstopping 15 national
programs. New conventional
breeding methods. Now, 96
improved OFSP varieties available
& 6.9 million households reached.
2
3
The Breeding and Dissemination Effort…
A 25-year process of learning by doing…
Building the Evidence Base &
Recognizing the Need to Breed in
Africa for Africa (2001-2009).
Integrated Ag-Nutrition Approach.
Robert
Mwanga
Maria
Andrade
Wolfgang
Grűneberg
The Speedbreeders
2009 onwards
Genomic Tools for
Sweetpotato 2014-2019
Low, J. et al. (2017). Global Food Security 14: 23-30.
Low, J. & G. Thiele (2020). Agricultural Systems 179: 1-17.
2020 to date

7. To reach urban consumers, investing in value chain
development for OFSP processed products
Our focus has been developing shelf-storable OFSP purée (steamed & mashed
roots) that can store for 3 months without refrigeration
1) Increased interest in diversified products from OFSP, esp. for urban consumers
2) Food processing can improve bioavailability by disrupting plant tissues, etc.
3) OFSP purée more economically viable than OFSP flour
4) Challenge is to get products highly commercialized
Power Biscuits in Rwanda
Vacuum-packed purée
Bread in Mozambique
Chapati in Kenya Musyoka et al. (2018) Intl J Food Sci: 8410747

8. Crop Management (except seed): Underfunded yet
Critical Area
1. Diverse germplasm can continue to be
drawn upon to produce more heat-tolerant,
drought-tolerant, and saline tolerant
varieties
2. Early maturing varieties help
adaptation to changing length of growing
season and coping with drought
Promising findings on limited work to date:
 Intercropping with spreading types may
improve soil moisture conservation,
reduce weed pressure and lower soil
erosion.
 Rotation of sweetpotato with rice
benefitted both crops more than rice-
rice or sweetpotato-sweetpotato in
Northern Uganda
 Higher land equivalent ratio outputs
when strip cropped sweetpotato with
maize in Malawi:
2 rows sweetpotato: 1 row maize
 Intercropping sweetpotato with
groundnut and incorporation of crop
residues at harvest improves Zn and Fe
in the soil & in sweetpotato roots, with
sweetpotato yield increase.
3. Can produce on marginal soils, but with
Inputs can reach 80-90 tons/ha.
Tremendous yield gap to address.

9. Capacity Strengthening through tools and training and
advocacy to get biofortification into policies critical
By 2020:
 24 countries have now
included biofortification in their
national agricultural and/or
nutrition agendas, policies,
plans and programs
 At regional level, inclusion in:
 AU CAADP process
 AU-NEPAD 2019-2025
Nutrition and Food
Systems Implementation
Plan
 World Food Program, EU
guidance note on fortification
 Under SPHI: 4 technical working
groups met annually
 Built capacity of 5 national
institutions in Tanzania,
Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana and
Ethiopia to conduct 10-day
learning by doing course:
Training of trainer’s manual on Everything
You Ever Wanted to Know about
Sweetpotato – published in English,
Portuguese, Kiswahili, French & Amharic
Available at: www.sweetpotatoknowledge.org

10. Capacity Strengthening through tools and training and
advocacy to get biofortification into policies critical
By 2020:
 24 countries have now
included biofortification in their
national agricultural and/or
nutrition agendas, policies,
plans and programs
 At regional level, inclusion in:
 AU CAADP process
 AU-NEPAD 2019-2025
Nutrition and Food
Systems Implementation
Plan
 Under SPHI: 4 technical working
groups met annually
 Built capacity of 5 national
institutions in Tanzania,
Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana and
Ethiopia to conduct 10-day
learning by doing course:
Training of trainer’s manual on Everything
You Ever Wanted to Know about
Sweetpotato – published in English,
Portuguese, Kiswahili, French & Amharic
Available at: www.sweetpotatoknowledge.org

11. Thanks for your attention!
For more information:
www.sweetpotatoknowledge.org
Let’s continue exploring the
amazing diversity of
sweetpotato and help transform
agri-food systems!
CIP thanks all donors and organizations which globally support its work through
their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund. https://www.cgiar.org/funders/
We must acknowledge the
tremendous support during the
past 15 years from 5 major donors
and our collaborators